A modified Nukiyama-Tanasawa distribution function and a Rosin-Rammler model for the particle-size-distribution analysis

Abstract No fundamental mechanism or model enables a theory on particle-size distribution to be built. Consequently, a wide variety of empirical models or equations have been proposed to characterize experimental particle-size distributions, such as the Rosin-Rammler model. Because the Nukiyama-Tanasawa equation uses four parameters to simulate differential distribution frequencies for particle-size diameters, the distribution function is not easy to apply in order to fit experimental data. In this paper, a modification of the Nukiyama-Tanasawa model with only two parameters has been proposed to fit the data on a particle-size distribution (PSD). The proposed normalized distribution function has been applied successfully to the PSD analysis (cork granulate and spray atomization droplets)

Procesos tecnológicos y métodos de control en la hidrólisis de proteínas

Los hidrolizados de proteínas se utilizan ampliamente en tecnología alimentaria por sus propiedades nutricionaleso funcionales (solubilidad, poder emulsificante, capacidad espumante). En este trabajo se describen las técnicasempleadas para la obtención de estos hidrolizados y se comparan los diferentes métodos usados para el control deestos preparados: determinación del grado de hidrólisis, tamaño de los péptidos, distribución de pesos molecularesy contenido en aminoácidos y péptidos

A beam-beam monitoring detector for the MPD experiment at NICA

The Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD) is to be installed at the Nuclotron Ion Collider fAcility (NICA) of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR). Its main goal is to study the phase diagram of the strongly interacting matter produced in heavy-ion collisions. These studies, while providing insight into the physics of heavy-ion collisions, are relevant for improving our understanding of the evolution of the early Universe and the formation of neutron stars. In order to extend the MPD trigger capabilities, we propose to include a high granularity beam-beam monitoring detector (BE-BE) to provide a level-0 trigger signal with an expected time resolution of 30 ps. This new detector will improve the determination of the reaction plane by the MPD experiment, a key measurement for flow studies that provides physics insight into the early stages of the reaction. In this work, we use simulated Au+Au collisions at NICA energies to show the potential of such a detector to determine the event plane resolution, providing further redundancy to the detectors originally considered for this purpose namely, the Fast Forward Detector (FFD) and the Hadron Calorimeter (HCAL). We also show our results for the time resolution studies of two prototype cells carried out at the T10 beam line at the CERN PS complex.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures. Updated to published version with added comments and correction

Demersal Fauna on Deep Seamounts of Sierra Leone Rise (Gulf of Guinea, Africa)

From January to March 2001 an experimental fishing survey was carried out on the Sierra Leone Rise by four Spanish commercial boats, with the aim of prospecting the fishing potential for longliners of the demersal resources inhabiting the seamounts located between 9ºN-5ºN and 19ºW-27ºW, at depths between 200 m and 1 000 m. A preliminary analysis of the data recorded shows that the demersal fish fauna composition was similar in three of the ten seamounts, with an absolute dominance of the alfonsino, Beryx splendens Lowe, 1838, which accounted for more than 90% of the total catch between 200 and 800 m depth. Other commercial species in catches were Beryx decadacthylus and some Scorpenidae. The size structure and the distribution of alfonsino oscillated between 27 and 52 cm showing an increase of the mean size with depth which is similar to the pattern found in other seamounts worldwide Major abundances were located at the northern surveyed seamount where the highest yields, up to 750 kg per 1 000 hooks, were obtained. The southernmost surveyed seamount exhibited the lowest abundances and was characterized by the absence of the alfonsino in the catches. The species richness of these deep communities was very low, the accompanying fauna comprising less than 30 species. Discarded fishes were, in order of abundance: Promethicthys prometeus, Coloconger cadenati, Polymixia nobilis, Ruvettus pretiosus, Etmopterus princeps, Serranus accraensis and Gephyroberyx darwini

Transcriptome profiling of grapevine seedless segregants during berry development reveals candidate genes associated with berry weight

Indexación: Web of Science; PubMedBackground Berry size is considered as one of the main selection criteria in table grape breeding programs. However, this is a quantitative and polygenic trait, and its genetic determination is still poorly understood. Considering its economic importance, it is relevant to determine its genetic architecture and elucidate the mechanisms involved in its expression. To approach this issue, an RNA-Seq experiment based on Illumina platform was performed (14 libraries), including seedless segregants with contrasting phenotypes for berry weight at fruit setting (FST) and 6–8 mm berries (B68) phenological stages. Results A group of 526 differentially expressed (DE) genes were identified, by comparing seedless segregants with contrasting phenotypes for berry weight: 101 genes from the FST stage and 463 from the B68 stage. Also, we integrated differential expression, principal components analysis (PCA), correlations and network co-expression analyses to characterize the transcriptome profiling observed in segregants with contrasting phenotypes for berry weight. After this, 68 DE genes were selected as candidate genes, and seven candidate genes were validated by real time-PCR, confirming their expression profiles. Conclusions We have carried out the first transcriptome analysis focused on table grape seedless segregants with contrasting phenotypes for berry weight. Our findings contributed to the understanding of the mechanisms involved in berry weight determination. Also, this comparative transcriptome profiling revealed candidate genes for berry weight which could be evaluated as selection tools in table grape breeding programs.http://bmcplantbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12870-016-0789-

From vineyards to feedlots: a fund-flow scanning of sociometabolic transition in the Vallès County (Catalonia) 1860-1956-1999

We analyse the changes to agricultural metabolism in four municipalities of Vallès County (Catalonia, Iberia) by accounting for their agroecosystemfunds and flows during the socioecological transition from organic to industrial farming between the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The choice of three different stages in this transition allows us to observe the transformation of its funds and flows over time, the links established between them and the effect on their energy profiles.We emphasize the relevance of the integration and consistency of agroecosystem funds for energy efficiency in agriculture and their role as underlying historical drivers of this socioecological transition. While readjustment to market conditions and availability and affordability of external inputs are considered the main drivers of the transition, we also highlight the role of societal energy and nutritional transitions. An analysis of advanced organic agriculture c. 1860 reveals the great effort required to reproduce soil fertility and livestock from the internal recirculation of biomass. Meanwhile, a balance between land produce and livestock densities enabled the integration of funds, with a positive impact on energy performance. The adoption of fossil fuels and synthetic fertilizers c. 1956 reduced somewhat the pressure exerted on the land by overcoming the former dependence on local biomass flows to reproduce the agroecosystem. Yet external inputs diminished sustainability. Partial dependence on external markets existed congruently with internal crop diversity and the predominance of organic over industrial farm management. A shift towards animal production and consumption led to a new specialization process c. 1999 that resulted in crop homogenization and agroecological landscape disintegration. The energy returns of this linear feed-food livestock bioconversion declined compared to earlier mixed farming. Huge energy flows driven by a globalized economy ran through this agroecosystem, provoking deep impacts at both a local and external scale

Désignation de zones littorales, sélection et évaluation d’indicateurs

En prens

Manuel Sacristán at the Onset of Ecological Marxism after Stalinism

Thirty-one years ago, in 1985, Manuel Sacristán died in Barcelona at the age of 59. After the publication in 2014 of a volume with some of his writings translated into English (Llorente 2014), it is time to help non-Spanish-speaking readers to know more about him. Yet it is not easy to explain to generations born after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 that Manuel Sacristán was a most important Marxist philosopher and at the same time one of the few pioneers introducing political ecology and antinuclear peace movement during the last quarter of the 20th century in Spain. Many people believe that Marxism, environmentalism and pacifism are views that exclude each other. Most of what has been said and done on behalf of Marxism since Stalin took over the leadership of the Communist Party of the USSR in the 1930s, up to its dissolution in 1991, contributes to sustaining this belief. The fast industrialization of the Old Russian Empire undertaken by the Soviet State was nowhere near taking into account ecological sustainability. Its socio-environmental impact turned out to be comparable or even worse than the ones caused by capitalist industrialization